The Ent is Nigh?

LARGER.

I'd planned (hoped) to look for insect/butterfly blips on the front lawn of County Hall this lunchtime but it's been raining way too much. So I took my brolly and headed up to where my 'Ents' are situated in Bracondale wood, My intention was to pass them and walk onwards to the lovely Yew tree I blipped last year, to see if any anils are forming on it yet. But as I walked past the 'Ents' I noticed that on the tree which already bears the brackets which I re-blipped yesterday, this second cluster of brackets has formed at the base, about 1/3 of the way round the trunk from the big one at the front. Oh dear, not a good omen for the tree surely. So of course I had to stop and take some shots of the new cluster.

Just to give an indication of the size of the original cluster, I took this shot. It's getting big!

No sign of anils on the Yew yet, but further along the path is a large fallen tree which came down about a year ago. I've been hoping that by this autumn it will have been affected sufficiently by the weather to become host to some new fungi, and it seems that's the case. I found some handsome looking black and cream brackets forming, already a decent size - my blip for tomorrow perhaps?

An odd one I did see close to the fallen tree is a large black fungus like a deflating ball (a puffball perhaps?) which has formed around some green mesh fencing where it joins to a small tree trunk. I prodded it, it felt fairly solid, and left some blackish residue on my finger (and yes, I DID wash my fingers when I got back to the office before eating!)